9 Nov 2022 09:29

Sergei Katsiev acquires 15% of former Imperial Brands subsidiary in Russia

MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax) - Russian businessman Sergei Katsiev, a beneficiary of the Red & White and Bristol retail chains, has acquired a 15% stake in International Tobacco Group LLC, the former Russian subsidiary of Imperial Brands, data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE) showed.

UK company Imperial Brands Plc, which includes Imperial Tobacco, maker of cigarettes under the Davidoff, Gauloises, JPS, Fine, West and others, announced in March that it was suspending operations in Russia, including production at its factory in Volgograd, sales and marketing. In April, the company said it had transferred its business in Russia to Russian investors.

At the end of April, four individuals, two of whom worked at companies affiliated with the Mercury Group of Katsiev and Igor Kesayev, became the shareholders of Imperial Tobacco Sales & Marketing and Imperial Tobacco Volga, which were subsequently renamed International Tobacco Group and International Tobacco Group Volga, respectively.

The ownership structure of Imperial Brands' Russian business later changed again. Now Nikolai Tyaka owns 75% of International Tobacco Group and International Tobacco Group Volga, the USRLE showed.

Since the end of October, Tyaka also owns a 37.3% stake in Viktoria Baltia LLC, the operating company of the Viktoria supermarket chain, of which Kesayev and Katsiev were also co-owners. The latter still held a 7.7% stake in the chain as of the end of October.

In October, Katsiev, Kesayev and Sergei Studennikov became the direct owners of stakes in the companies that operate the Red & White and Bristol chains, with 7.69%, 37.25% and 45%, respectively. These were also their stakes in Cyprus-based Mercury Retail Group, which previously owned the retail chains and had planned an IPO in 2021 but then shelved it due to the market situation. Also in October, Red & White announced that it had completed its reorganization and transfer of assets to Russia.